Year: 2013
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese¨
Written by: Richard La Gravenese; Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (novel)
Ethan Wate has been dreaming of the same girl for a long time. He lives in a town called Gatlin, and longs to get out of there. Then the school has a new student: Lena Duchannes, who is the niece of the mysterious Macon Ravenwood the whole city is scared of. Together Ethan and Lena discover dark secrets, curses and history of their families. their shared past and fate.
I've seen Beautiful Creatures once before, and I wanted to see it again. The magic of the movie didn't seem any less astonishing as it was less than a year ago. The magic comes from the visual side of the movie, and especially the visual effects. Sometimes fantasy films seem like the makers were afraid to make the film actually look magical, especially if it takes place in our "normal world". Beautiful Creatures takes place in a normal-seeming town and all that, but still they used visual effects as much as was needed. And it works very well - when effects are used well, it really feels magical. It doesn't always have to look so realistic because hey, we are talking about magic! What about magic is realistic? Anything that looks amazing is good enough for magic.
If there's anything more enchanting than the visual side of the movie, it's the music. The soundtrack by thenewno2 is amazing, and I love every track of it. It's on Spotify, so listen to it if you can. It's excellent.
I'm still no quite sure if I like Ethan. Sure, as a character he's interesting, but I don't know if I'd like him as a person. He thinks everyone in the whole town are assholes, but then he is so pretentious trying not to be like them that he is like them, in his own way. But that's easy to expect - a lot of characters from YA-novels are like that. They try to be the opposite of everyone ("I'm not like those people") so they become so pretentious. Think about John Green's characters. They are so pretentious and obnoxious. Then again they have nothing to make up for it. Ethan on the other hand had something else in him, he wasn't just a huge asshole, he just didn't let anyone else see the other sides of him.
Now that I've talked about Ethan, I want to talk about Ethan and Lena. I don't think I can say anything about their chemistry. I can't say if they had that, but I can say one thing. They may love each other, but there's more than that. One thing is sure about their relationship. They both represent what they want but can't have (?). Ethan wants excitement, he wants out of Gatlin. He's bored of the typical life and wants something new and interesting. That's Lena. And Lena wants to live normally, and Ethan can provide that to her. Clearly Lena is more what Ethan wants than the other way around.
Lena's character is also amazing. She has more than one side of her. She acts coldly in class, but shows her softer side to Ethan, and of course she shows how she can be thin-skinned, no matter what she acts like around people.
I adore this movie. Maybe the writing isn't the best there is, but it's still good, and I don't even want to start analysing what's bad about it. I love it, and for once, I want that to be enough.
Beautiful Creatures is an enchanting film with interesting storylines, characters and romance. It's better than the typical YA fantasy romances out there. If you haven't seen this one yet, you should.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
8 / 10
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